The Planting of the Whomping Willow
by Shini1
Summary: this is about the Whomping Willow as you obiviosly see from the title. it pretty much covers the summery too. read and tell me what you think. -.^


1 The Planting of the Whomping Willow  
  
  
  
The Whomping Willow stood at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, silently watching for any sign of movement. If any child took it into his or her head to sneak into the dark mysterious forest, they would have to pass the Whomping Willow. The nasty tree would gather the naughty child up in its branches and give the rule breaker a monstrous beating before sending them on their way back to the school. The Whomping Willow hadn't always been there though. And this is how it came to be…  
  
*~*~*  
  
The castle stood menacingly at the top of the hill, towering over the pines in front of it. Three shadowy shapes blurred by the mist creeped silently down the slope, heading for the forest that stood just beyond the enchanted lake. Mist swirled and spun around the three figures silently, escaping their notice. As the three creeping shadows neared the river, they began to straight from their crouched forms, convinced that they were out of danger.  
  
The three shadows jogged towards the edge of the Forbidden Forest with the mist dissolving slowly as they neared the forest. The dark mass swallowed the three shadows and the night was silent once again.  
  
"Hurry up guys, we don't have all night," said the person in front.  
  
"We're trying!" whines a feminine voice from the end of the line.  
  
"We didn't ask you to some along Alex, you know that, so stop complaining," stated the person in the middle.  
  
"Will you two be quiet? You're loud enough to wake the dead," said the first voice.  
  
"If you didn't start talking in the first place, we wouldn't even be out here, we'd be sleeping in the dorms instead of out here searching for some stupid horse," complained the third voice.  
  
"Lumos!" the first voice said as a wand lit up, illuminating tree faces. The owner of the wand had dark brow hair, green eyes and a thin face. The second face belonged to a boy with reddish orange hair, hazel eyes, and freckles. The last face was one of a girl. She had straight brown hair and warm brown eyes that seemed to sparkle with intelligence. The light from the wand was dimly lit, causing the three first-year students to miss the holes in the ground.  
  
"Look-," before the green-eyes boy could finish, the girl interrupted him.  
  
"He wasn't the only one who opened his mouth. Wasn't that you who said you're not scared to go into the Forbidden Forest, oh Brad the Great?"  
  
"As least I don't have my nose in a book everywhere I go Miss. I-must-know- everything-there-is-to-know Perfect," shot back the red-faced Brad.  
  
"Will both of you be quiet!" hissed the first boy who was waiting for his chance to talk. With one last glare at each other, Alex and Brad turned to face the leader of the three. "Let's just get the hairs and go! I have an exam tomorrow." Sulking and glaring, the tree went on, as silently as they could, not wanting to wake the creature in the forest.  
  
Before the third step was taken, the three fell into a hole the size of a large boulder. A few curses were heard from the leader as he got up and dusted himself off.  
  
"Luke! My robe is all dirty! What am I going to do now?" whined Alex.  
  
"Alexis Granger, how many time have-"  
  
"Don't you dare go around calling me Alexis! You know how much I hate that name," cried Alex as she cut Luke off.  
  
"Hey guys, I think I found a way out. Lumos!" The interior of the hole lit up as a soft glow appeared. "Come on, I need my sleep. Might as well get this over with,"  
  
said Brad. The three trudged up the slope into a dark hole and kept on going, into a tunnel that led to the darker side of the Forbidden Forest.  
  
After hours of walking, stumbling, and falling, they walked into the clearing where they finally sat down. At last, they saw the unicorn. It glowed softly under the moonlight, grazing in the field with a carefree manner. Just then, Alex began to sing a haunting melody that seemed to fill the night. As she sang, the unicorn's head began to drop. Soon, it lay down and went to sleep.  
  
"Keep singing," whispered Luke as he crawled quietly toward the unicorn on all fours. Alex nodded but continued to sing without missing a beat. As Luke crawled closer and closer to the fallen creature, he took out a tiny pair of silver scissors that shone with a dull gleam. Luke snipped off a few strands of the unicorn's tail, he crawled back and the three slipped back into the forest.  
  
"Okay, let's get out of this place," whispered Brad, although he had no idea why whispering was necessary. After jogging along the tunnel, they smacked into something soft and warm. Alex stifled a scream as they felt something's breathe in their face. The creature they bumped into gave a deafening roar and its eyes started to glow a bloody red colour.  
  
"What is that?" asked Brad, eyes wide with fear and wand in hand, ready to be used in case of sudden attacks.  
  
"I say we should turn back now, we must've taken a wrong turn in the tunnel and ended up here," said Alex in her calm.  
  
The trio ran back the way they came only to find that the red-eyed creature has amazing speed so they were face to face with the creature. "You must beat me," it growled, its voice was thundering. "Give me a riddle and if I can't solve it, you go free. If I can solve it, you three will make a wonderful meal."  
  
The three kids looked at each other and finally, Alex stepped up and asked:  
  
"Hand she has, but does not hold,  
  
Teeth she has, but does not bite.  
  
Feet she has, but they are cold,  
  
Eyes she has, but without sight."  
  
The creature thought over the problem for a few minutes and replied, "Tell me the answer, then you may go before I change my mind."  
  
"The answer is a Doll," Alex said over her shoulder as the trio turned back into the main tunnel. The Hogwart students were at the edge of the forest in no time, panting and gasping for air.  
  
"That…was a…close call," gasped Brad. The other two could do no more than to nod their agreement.  
  
"Miss Granger, Mr. Weasley, and Mr. Potter, what do you think you are doing? Sneaking out of the school in the middle of the night and going into the Forbidden Forest?" thundered the headmaster. "I am disappointed in all three of you, especially you, Miss Granger," the headmaster said, directing his gaze toward Alex. "I thought you would be smart enough to keep out of trouble. Since this is the first time any of you have broken the rules, I am giving all of you detention for four months. During these four months, you three will be planting the Whomping Willow at the edge of the forest to keep sneaky people out. Is that understood?" The gloomy students nodded their heads and turned to go back to the castle when the headmaster added, "By the way, no magic is allowed. You have to do this the hard way." Audible groans were heard as the students made their way back to the Gryffindor Tower.  
  
  
  
2 The End 


End file.
